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At least five people killed in shootings in and around French migrant camp

At least five people have been killed in a shooting in and around a migrant camp near Dunkirk.

A 22-year-old man claiming to be the gunman handed himself to the nearby Ghyvelde police station at 5pm local time.

He told police he first killed a 29-year-old in the French town of Wormhout at about 3pm.

He then killed four others near the Loon-Plage refugee camp, he told police.

The four victims at the camp are understood to be two "security agents" and two migrants.

Sky News spoke with a witness who said the attacker pulled up in green vehicle, jumped out and fired around a dozen shots.

"The gunman came and, all of sudden, drew a shotgun. Initially we thought he would fire in the air and then he loaded the gun and aimed at us," said Matin, a 25-year-old Kurdish migrant, who witnessed the attack.

"We saw Azrael [the Islamic Angel of Death]. We saw death with our own eyes.

The gunman is thought to be a French national from Dunkirk and was carrying three more guns in his car, according to local media.

Sky News understands the migrants who died are called Kurdish men called Hamid and Hadi and had tried to cross the Channel earlier on Saturday.

They spent eight hours on the water, however, after their boat got into trouble and had to be rescued by French authorities.

85 people were on that boat and 50 were taken off after it first got into trouble.

According to the refugee charity Care4Calais, refugees have been camping in the area for years, which is about six miles from the English Channel.

They are mainly "Kurdish or Afghan and include many families with small children", according to the charity.

It was not immediately clear what the motives were for the shooting.

Sky News

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